l\  V* 

Smefican  ISoarli  of  Commissiontrs  for 


JForcign  ffltssions. 


The  Foochow  Mission. 

1847-1906. 

A CONDENSED  SKETCH. 

prepared 

yah 

By  Rev.  C.  C.  BALDWIN,  D.D., 


AND  REVISED  IK  - 


1905- 


CONDENSED  SKETCH  OF  THE  FOO- 
CHOW MISSION,  1847-1905. 


« 

BY  REV.  C.  C.  BALDWIN,  D.D.,  OF  FOOCHOW. 

Location.  — The  centre  of  the  mission  is  at 
the  city  of  Foochow,  about  in  longitude  119° 
east,  latitude  26°  north,  corresponding  to  the 
southern  part  of  Florida.  The  city  is  situated 
two  miles  from  the  north  bank  of  the  river  Min, 
25  miles  from  the  sea.  It  is  a walled  city  with 
seven  gates,  and  is  from  si.x  to  seven  miles  in 
circuit.  A main  thoroughfare,  with  a few  sharp 
turns,  runs  from  the  north  to  the  south  gate,  then 
southward  across  two  bridges  with  an  interven- 
ing island,  a distance  in  all  of  seven  miles. 
This  street  expands  into  very  extensive  suburbs 
on  the  two  banks  of  the  stream.  The  popula- 
tion of  the  city,  with  suburbs,  is  estimated  at 
750,000.  It  stands  on  the  north  side  of  a fertile 
plain,  traversed  by  two  channels  of  the  river, 
and  covered  with  many  villages,  which  contain 
their  hundreds  and  thousands  of  people.  The 
whole  population  of  city,  suburbs,  and  plain  is 


4 


about  one  and  a half  millions.  The  population 
of  the  province  of  Fuh-kien  in  which  it  is  situ- 
ated is  estimated  at  from  fifteen  to  twenty  or 
twenty-five  millions. 

Foochow,  like  other  cities  of  its  rank,  is  im- 
portant as  the  political,  literary,  and  commercial 
centre  of  the  province.  It  is  the  official  resi- 
dence of  the  provincial  officers,  the  viceroy  of 
the  Fuh-kien  and  Chehkiang  provinces,  governor, 
treasurer,  criminal  judge,  the  two  district  magis- 
trates who  have  jurisdiction  over  the  city  and 
adjacent  territory,  etc.  From  eight  to  ten  thou- 
sand students  come  from  all  parts  of  the  prefec- 
ture twice  in  two  years  to  compete  for  the  first 
degree  (A.  B.)  before  the  chancellor,  and  about 
the  same  number  from  the  whole  province  twice 
in  five  years  to  compete  for  the  second  degree 
(A.  M.)  before  imperial  commissioners. 

Commerce. — The  commercial  importance  of 
the  city  is  indicated  by  its  large  interior  and 
coast  trade,  and  its  trade  with  foreign  countries 
in  teas,  opium,  cotton  and  woolen  goods,  rice, 
etc.  In  1887  its  direct  foreign  trade  was  about 
$13,000,000,  and  its  net  foreign  imports  about 
$4,500,000.  Its  export  of  teas  was  82,000,000 
pounds.  This  was  about  four  times  that  of 
Canton,  while  in  some  other  items  it  falls  much 
below  that  city.  The  opium  imported  in  1887 


5 


was  5,000  piculs,  costing  $3,000,000.  The  cost 
of  both  the  foreign  importation  and  the  native- 
grown  opium  was  about  $9,000,000,  or  three 
eighths  of  what  it  received  for  its  teas. 

The  People. — The  Chinese  are  sometimes 
stigmatized  by  Western  people  as  stupid  because 
undemonstrative  toward  strangers.  One  writer 
declares  that  they  are  “ the  largest,  oddest,  and 
most  absurd  of  the  social  organizations  now 
existing.”  But  in  truth  they  rank  high  as  a race 
in  their  men'tal  endowments.  They  are  im- 
passive in  temperament,  and  although  deficient 
in  push,  and  seemingly  slow  and  inefficient,  they 
are  plodding  and  patient,  accomplishing  great 
results.  The  Chinese  mind  is  solid  rather  than 
brilliant  or  metaphysical  as  compared  with  the 
East  Indian.  Nevertheless  Chinamen  are  gifted 
with  artifice  in  social  and  political  affairs.  They 
lack  originality,  but  excel  in  memory  and 
method.  They  are  remarkably  industrious,  fru- 
gal, and  temperate.  In  the  civilities  of  life  the 
Chinese  are  polite  and  affable,  their  manners 
being  largely  patterned  after  the  Rules  in  the 
“Book  of  Rites,”  dating  back  to  b.c.  1130. 
The  bearing  of  the  better  classes  is  usually 
quiet,  dignified,  and  self-respecting,  but  polite- 
ness too  often  is  only  a thin  veneer  covering 
utter  indifference  or  dislike. 


6 


Habits  and  Morals.  — Their  ethical  system 
has  been  a strong  national  bond  during  the 
lapse  of  centuries.  The  roots  of  this  system 
are  in  the  doctrine  of  Filial  Piety  and  what  they 
term  the  “ Five  Human  Relations.”  All  rules 
are  based  on  these,  and  hence  result  their  strong 
family  ties  and  intense  clannishness.  But,  how- 
ever beautiful  their  moral  system  may  be,  it 
does  not  control  the  life.  Descending  from 
their  ideal  standards  to  the  actual  life,  the 
shadows  we  meet  deepen  to  blackness.  Begin- 
ning with  a lighter  “ shade,”  not  strictly  classed 
as  moral,  uncleanliness  is  common.  Yards  and 
houses,  particularly  in  country  places,  are  occu- 
pied by  poultry  and  swine,  while  yards  are  also 
the  feeding  and  lodging  places  of  larger  cattle. 
“ Beds  and  clothing  are  so  commonly  infested 
with  vermin  that  it  ceases  to  be  a disgrace.” 
(Nevius.)  The  smoking  of  tobacco  is  univer- 
sal, and  the  opium-pipe  is  used  to  a fearful 
extent  by  high  and  low,  from  the  mandarin  to 
the  lowest  beggar.  The  people  in  their  language 
are  very  abusive  and  vile.  The  most  ribald  ex- 
pressions and  curses  are  used  by  both  sexes  in 
the  streets.  In  private  life  they  are  depraved  in 
their  tastes  and  conduct,  which  is  often  as  true 
of  the  outwardly  refined  as  of  the  vulgar  crowd, 
and  obscene  talk  and  secret  deeds  of  evil  are 


7 


but  registers  of  the  habitual  mental  state.  The 
duplicity  of  the  Chinese  has  passed  into  a pro- 
verb. Confucius  used  deception  as  though  it 
had  no  moral  character.  The  national  con- 
science is  drugged  with  false  ideas,  both  from 
ancient  writers  and  the  heathen  systems.  It  is 
not  therefore  strange  that  the  standard  is  low 
in  actual  life,  and  that  in  regard  to  duplicity 
there  is  no  principle  of  honor  and  no  sense  of 
shame.  They  are  also  intensely  selfish  and  ma- 
terialistic, having  little  that  is  spiritual  in  aim 
or  aspiration. 

Their  Religion.  — The  three  religions  or 
sects  are  Confucianism,  Taoism  or  Rationalism, 
and  Buddhism.  The  first  is  strictly  a political 
and  moral,  rather  than  a religious  system. 
Taoism  also  was  originally  a system  of  morality 
and  virtue,  but  its  votaries  deified  reason  in  the 
person  of  its  founder,  Lau-tsz,  and  have  finally 
degenerated  into  low  idolaters,  jugglers,  and 
mountebanks.  Buddhism  was  originally  atheis- 
tic, humane  and  moral,  but  Buddha  was  deified, 
and  kindred  gods  introduced.  In  a wide  sense, 
all  the  sects  are  polytheistic.  Confucianism  is 
made  to  embrace  the  gods  and  rites  of  state 
worship  at  the  capital,  and  similar  worship  by 
officers  throughout  the  empire.  The  august 
ceremonial  at  the  capital  is  enacted  by  the 


8 


emperor  as  the  vice-gerent  and  son  of  heaven, 
assisted  by  princes  and  high  officers,  with  an 
escort  of  two  thousand  grandees,  musicians,  and 
other  attendants.  The  huge  pantheons  of  state 
worship  and  the  sects  comprise  objects  high  and 
low,  real  and  imaginary,  from  “ Imperial  Heaven 
and  Earth  ” to  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  the 
spirits  of  rulers  and  sages,  ram,  clouds,  and 
thunder,  mountains,  seas,  and  rivers.  The 
catalogue  embraces  the  national  tablet-worship 
of  ancestors,  and  such  inferior  deities  as  gods 
of  flags,  cannon,  ways  and  gates,  down  to  the 
gods  of  the  kitchen  and  the  dustpan.  The 
number  of  the  gods  of  the  three  sects  is  im- 
mense. There  are  over  one  million  temples, 
containing  ten  million  idols  and  tablets,  costing 
the  people  one  thousand  million  dollars.  But 
the  entire  expense  of  worship  in  temples, 
houses,  and  streets,  and  the  consequent  dete- 
rioration of  morals,  it  is  utterly  impossible  to 
estimate. 

It  is  a significant  fact  that  the  sects,  in  popu- 
lar practice,  are  not  rival  or  antagonistic,  but 
friendly  and  supplementary.  The  devotee  is 
quite  free  in  his  selection,  choosing  his  gods 
and  rites  at  pleasure.  If  one  god  fails,  he  tries 
another.  In  his  need,  however,  he  does  not 
apply  to  Confucius,  but  to  some  filthy  idol  or 


9 


senseless  charm.  This  free  custom  pervades 
all  classes,  for  the  proud  Confucianist  seems  as 
superstitious  as  the  most  vulgar  and  lowly. 
With  no  thought  of  shame  or  fear  of  compro- 
mising his  orthodoxy,  he  engages  eagerly  in 
the  most  puerile  service,  led  by  priests  of  Tao 
or  Buddha,  while  emperor  and  ministers  con- 
tribute large  sums  to  heathen  temples.  The 
worship  of  deceased  ancestors  in  the  tablet  has 
the  profound  reverence  and  trust  of  the  nation. 
In  the  popular  belief,  this  involves  the  very  ex- 
istence of  filial  piety  in  their  minds.  No  one 
laughs  at  it,  nor  dares  to  neglect  it ; for  it  goes 
to  the  deepest  source  of  a felt  obligation,  which 
can  be  neither  questioned  nor  trifled  with. 
There  are  some  sixty  million  families  in  the 
empire,  and  as  each  often  has  three  to  five  tab- 
lets of  near  and  remote  ancestors,  or  their 
names  inscribed  on  a single  block,  the  wor- 
shiped spirits  are  hundreds  of  millions.  It  is  a 
refined  worship,  without  the  grosser  forms  of 
heathenism,  but  it  forms  one  of  the  subtlest 
phases  of  idolatry  — essentially  evil  with  the 
guise  of  goodness  — ever  established  among 
men.  (Williams’s  The  Middle  Kmgdom.)  The 
doctrine  of  filial  piety  has  been  lauded  in  glow- 
ing terms  in  their  books,  but  it  has  been  per- 
verted to  very  low  aims,  for  the  spirit  of  the 


10 


worship  is  a selfish  one.  The  very  strongest 
motive  for  such  worship  is  due  to  “ the  belief 
that  worldly  success  depends  on  the  support 
given  to  ancestral  spirits  in  Hades,  who  would 
resent  neglect  by  withholding  their  blessing.” 
Besides,  vast  multitudes  of  these  spirits,  when 
in  the  flesh,  were  doubtless  the  most  debased 
and  wicked  of  mortals,  yet  they  receive  the 
careful  homage  of  centuries,  not  that  the  filial 
petitioner  may  grow  in  virtue,  but  that  he  may 
prosper  in  life.  Satan  has  many  masterpieces. 
In  China  his  greatest  is  ancestral  worship. 

THE  MISSION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  BOARD. 

From  1847  to  1857.  The  mission  was  founded 
January  2,  1847.  Beginnings  were  made  in 
acquiring  and  Romanizing  the  language,  obtain- 
ing.sites  for  dwellings,  renting  Chinese  shops 
for  chapels,  starting  schools,  taught  at  first  by 
heathen  teachers,  and  in  evangelical  work.  A 
small  boarding  school  for  boys  and  girls,  to 
which  day  scholars  were  also  admitted,  was 
begun  in  1853  or  1854.  It  was  not  till  near  the 
close  of  this  decade,  October  19,  1857,  that 
the  first  church  was  formed  of  four  members, 
though  the  wife  of  one  of  these  had  previously 
received  baptism  on  her  deathbed.  In  these 
early  years  we  sometimes  received  harsh  treat- 


31 


ment  in  country  places,  missiles,  such  as  small 
stones,  broken  tiles,  etc.,  being  thrown  at  us. 

From  1857  to  1867.  The  work  extended 
during  this  period.  A site  for  two  new  houses 
was  secured  within  the  city  walls  in  1861,  and 
the  buildings  erected  in  1862.  The  boys’ 
boarding  and  training  school,  after  several 
years’  Intermission,  was  resumed  in  1864.  An 
experiment  was  made  in  the  training  of  three 
girls  in  mission  families,  and  a girls’  boarding 
school  was  regularly  organized  in  1863.  It 
actually  began  with  one  girl ; but,  at  the  end  of 
seven  years,  twenty-five  girls  and  three  women 
had  been  under  instruction.  This  decade  is  also 
noted  for  the  completion  of  a translation  of  the 
New  Testament  in  the  Foochow  dialect  by  a 
committee  of  four  from  the  two  American 
missions,  the  first  uniform  edition  being  issued 
in  1866.  The  evangelical  work  spread  from 
the  city  and  suburbs  to  the  department  cities 
and  districts  of  Ch’angloh  and  Yung-fuh,  form- 
ing a compact  field  from  the  sea,  on  the  south  of 
the  Min,  about  one  hundred  miles  into  the  in- 
terior, with  a varying  breadth  of  twenty  to 
thirty-five  miles. 

From  1867  to  1877.  After  an  intermission  of 
one  or  two  years,  the  boys’  boarding  school  was 
resumed.  Successful  tours  of  exploration  were 


14 


made  by  missionaries  and  native  helpers  in  the 
upper  Min  region;  and  in  1874  a permanent 
location  was  effected  in  the  prefectural  city  of 
Shao-wu,  250  miles  from  Foochow,  and  only 
two  or  three  days’  travel  from  the  Kiang-si 
province.  Out-stations  at  the  town  of  Yang- 
keu  and  the  city  of  Tsiang-loh  had  been  pre- 
viously secured.  The  work  was  prosecuted  in 
the  new  field  a part  of  the  time  by  two  mission- 
ary families  and  a part  of  the  time  by  one.  No 
medical  missionary  was  stationed  at  Shao-wu  till 
the  last  year  of  the  decade.  This  period  is  also 
noted  for  the  commencement  of  medical  work 
at  Foochow  in  1870.  In  the  literary  depart- 
ment, two  important  works  were  completed : 
the  Foochow  Dictionary  in  Chinese  and  English, 
and  a manual  of  the  Foochow  dialect.  In  their 
preparation  a small  share  of  the  work  was  done 
by  a member  of  the  Methodist  mission,  and  the 
books  were  issued  from  its  press.  The  trans- 
lation of  the  Old  Testament,  begun  in  1874, 
was  not  completed  till  the  next  period.  This 
heavy  task  was  undertaken  by  the  American  and 
English  missions  together,  but  much  the  larger 
part  of  the  work  was  done  by  two  members  of 
our  mission. 

From  1877  to  1887.  This  was  an  eventful 
period  in  the  history  of  the  mission.  At  its 


'5 


beginning  there  were  in  the  mission  17  out- 
stations  and  nine  organized  churches.  There 
was  the  beginning  of  a native  pastorate,  two 
men  having  been  ordained  in  1877.  The 
Shao-wu  station  was  occupied  by  two  mission- 
aries and  a physician,  with  their  wives.  A few 
gave  up  their  idols  for  Christ.  The  advance 
was  made  though  the  working  force  was  very 
small.  In  Foochow  City  a new  building  for 
the  girls’  boarding  school,  bearing  the  name 
“American  Board  Female  College,”  in  Chinese 
characters,  was  built  and  dedicated  in  1881. 
A woman’s  school,  begun  in  1885  in  narrow 
quarters  in  the  suburbs,  was  removed  to  the 
city,  and  soon  found  a new,  comfortable  home. 
This  period  also  witnessed  the  founding  of  a 
“Hospital  for  Women  and  Children”  in  the 
city,  opened  January  i,  1886.  Building  enter- 
prises for  a new  woman’s  hospital  and  for  the 
boys’  boarding  and  training  school  were  under- 
taken, which  involved  much  patient  engineer- 
ing to  secure  seventeen  deeds  of  small  parcels 
of  land  from  greedy  Chinese  owners. 

Two  notable  events  also  occurred,  affecting 
our  work  in  different  ways.  One  was  the 
founding  of  an  Anglo-Chinese  college  by  the 
Methodist  Mission  in  1880,  in  which  the  English 
language  and  Western  sciences  are  taught. 


i6 


Students  were  invited  from  “ the  other  mis- 
sions.” In  response  to  this  invitation,  and 
with  the  prospect  of  securing  lucrative  situa- 
tions in  hongs  and  offices  through  knowledge 
of  English,  from  ten  to  twenty  of  our  lads 
and  young  men  having  entered  the  college. 
Some  or  all  of  these  would  naturally  have 
remained  with  us  and  received  training  to 
become  preachers  or  teachers.  Their  depart- 
ure was  of  course  authorized  by  their  parents. 
The  other  event  was  the  French  invasion  of 
1884,  in  which  their  gunboats  destroyed  the 
Chinese  fleet  near  the  arsenal,  ten  miles  below 
Foochow,  and  silenced  or  demolished  the  river 
forts  as  they  retired.  This  caused  tremendous 
excitement  and  distress  even  in  places  distant 
from  the  scene  of  action.  But  good  came  from 
the  evil,  as  the  people  now  have  a clearer 
sense  of  the  friendly  aim  and  disposition  of 
missionaries. 

From  1887  to  1897.  This  decade  shows 
rapid  progress,  in  which  our  mission  was 
called  to  build  rather  than  to  lay  foundations. 
In  1891  Pagoda  Anchorage,  which  is  ten  miles 
down  the  river  from  Foochow,  was  made  a 
station.  Six  years  later  it  had  two  outstations, 
giving  access  to  a population  of  about  half  a 
million.  In  the  “ Tabular  Views  ” the  columns 


'7 


of  total  of  native  laborers,  average  congrega- 
tions, adherents,  church  members,  pupils,  etc., 
show  gains  often  of  thirty,  forty,  and  even  fifty 
per  cent,  in  single  years. 

During  this  period  the  Christian  Endeavor 
movement  made  notable  progress.  The  first 
society,  which  was  the ' earliest  in  all  China, 
had  been  started  in  1885.  That  was  in  the 
“Church  of  the  Saviour,”  or  first  Congrega- 
tional church,  in  the  Foochow  Suburbs.  Other 
societies  have  been  formed  inside  the  city  and 
in  various  places  in  the  cities  and  the  country 
near  and  remote,  where  our  schools  and  evan- 
gelist work  have  opened  the  way.  There  is 
also  a Junior  Society  in  the  Girls’  Boarding 
School.  There  have  been  grand  rallies  of 
these  societies  at  our  annual  meetings  in  1893, 
1894,  and  1895,  with  charming  displays  of  dis- 
tinctive banners,  with  reports  of  the  leaders, 
brief  addresses,  and  stirring  songs  of  praise. 
There  has  been,  with  all,  a good  measure  of 
innocent  youthful  and  adult  enthusiasm.  And 
in  this  connection  there  have  also  been  revival 
meetings,  with  good  results,  especially  in  the 
Girls’  School. 

The  period  is  also  marked  by  two  other  hope- 
ful movements,  one  of  which  was  the  formation 
of  a Woman’s  Home  Missionary  Society,  in 


8 


1893-  Our  most  intelligent  Chinese  women 
welcome  this  new  enterprise  with  much  faith 
and  devotion  of  spirit.  The  other  movement 
is  among  the  young  men  of  the  Boy’s  Board- 
ing School.  Those  who  are  judged  com- 
petent by  the  principal  of  the  school  and 
the  city  pastor  form  a class  of  workers  under 
the  name  of  “ Exhorters,”  who  go  out  on 
Sabbath  days  through  the  suburbs  and  the 
nearer  villages  to  teach  the  people  the  way  of 
salvation. 

1897  to  1905.  At  the  beginning  of  this 
period  the  station  of  Inghok,  35  miles  south- 
west of  Foochow,  was  opened.  It  had  pre- 
viously been  a center  of  1 1 outstations,  giving 
access  to  a population  of  about  200,000.  In 
1898  the  name  of  the  institution  which  had 
been  known  for  eight  years  as  the  Banyan 
City  Scientific  Institute  was  changed  to  Foo- 
chow College.  This  college  is  just  within  the 
city  wall,  three  miles  from  the  foreign  settle- 
ment. It  has  two  departments,  an  academic 
and  collegiate,  each  having  a four  years’ 
course.  In  1904  it  had  130  students,  all 
paying  liberal  fees.  In  the  last  ten  years  it 
has  graduated  33  young  men,  of  whom  21 
have  entered  upon  distinctively  Christian  work. 

The  Foochow  Girls’  College  is  the  outgrowth 


19 


of  a day  school  begun  in  1854,  its  full  course 
of  study  having  been  introduced  in  1882.  Its 
highest  enrollment  was  in  1899,  having  then 
100  pupils,  and  in  that  year  the  course  of 
study,  including  a preparatory  and  a col- 
legiate department  of  four  years  each,  was 
established. 

At  the  time  of  the  Boxer  outbreak  in  North 
China,  in  1900,  there  was  much  excitement 
throughout  the  Fuhkien  province,  and  massa- 
cres were  threatened  at  Foochow,  but  none 
actually  occurred.  In  the  absence  of  the 
missionaries  from  Shao-wu  their  premises  were 
looted  and  burned. 

DEPARTMENTS  OF  THE  WORK. 

Evangelistic  work  is  carried  forward  with  the 
aid  of  native  helpers  at  chapels,  schools,  hos- 
pitals, and  in  Christian  homes  as  centers, 
throughout  cities  and  wide  districts  of  country. 
Scores  of  villages,  hidden  among  hills,  as  well 
as  those  thickly  clustered  by  rivers  and  over 
plains,  are  reached  by  pioneer  touring. 

The  Educational  Department.  — Aside  from 
the  two  colleges  already  named,  there  are  two 
theological  classes,  three  high  schools  for  boys 
and  five  for  girls,  besides  119  common  schools. 
Through  all  sorts  of  obstacles  quite  unknown  in 


20 


Christian  lands,  these  schools  are  advancing  to 
an  assured  success.  It  is  by  their  influence,  in 
a good  measure,  that  light  is  gradually  dissi- 
pating heathen  superstitions.  For  example, 
during  many  long  years  of  our  history,  the 
Chinese  declared  that  girls  were  taken  into 
our  schools  to  be  sent  West,  or  by  some  occult 
art  made  into  opium.  But  we  do  not  often  now 
hear  such  silly  speeches. 

The  medical  work  has  increased  greatly  within 
the  past  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  The  three 
medical  men  and  four  medical  women  con- 
nected with  the  Board  are  accomplishing 
great  results  in  Christian  as  well  as  in  humani- 
tarian lines.  They  have  under  their  charge 
four  hospitals  and  eight  dispensaries,  and 
during  the  last  year  these  had  under  their 
care  over  39,000  patients.  Young  men  and 
women  are  also  in  training  for  efficient  prac- 
tice among  their  people. 

The  literary  work.  Tracts  and  books  in 
poetry  and  prose,  a catechism,  hymn-books,  a 
child’s  paper  (in  concert  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Mission)  have  been  published.  The 
whole  Bible  has  been  translated  into  the  collo- 
quial, in  union  with  the  other  missions.  Ele- 
mentary treatises  in  arithmetic,  geography,  and 
astronomy,  a work  on  anatomy,  and  a die- 


21 


tionary  and  manual  of  the  Foochow  dialect 
(the  last  two  works  with  the  aid  of  a member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission)  have  been 
published. 

The  field  thus  sketched  covers  large  regions 
in  the  Foochow  and  Shao-wu  districts,  and 
the  population,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
within  reach  of  our  mission  mounts  up  into 
the  millions.  The  natural  facilities  for  prose- 
cuting the  work  in  certain  large  sections  are 
favorable.  The  people  like  to  build  on  plains 
and  in  valleys,  and  we  thus  find  them  densely 
massed  in  cities  and  villages  with  close  con- 
nections by  waterways  or  stone-paved  roads. 
This  renders  them  easy  of  access  in  large 
numbers  to  the  missionary.  The  encourage- 
ments to  labor,  even  from  the  peculiar  traits 
of  the  people,  are  many,  while  the  difficulties 
are  also  great.  We  rejoice  that  the  heathen 
Chinese  finds  his  way  at  last  to  the  cross  of 
Christ. 

OTHER  MISSIONS. 

Besides  our  own  mission,  two  others  are 
working  in  the  same  field  — the  American 
Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  and  the  English 
Church  Mission.  All  three  center  at  Foochow, 
and  have  carried  their  work  through  the  prov- 


22 


ince  in  all  directions,  excepting  the  south- 
western portion,  which  has  been  long  occupied 
by  the  Amoy  and  Swatow  missions.  A spirit 
of  harmony  prevails. 

An  event  ever  memorable  in  the  record  of 
our  missionary  experiences  was  the  massacre 
of  English  missionaries,  August  i,  1895,  at 
Hwasang,  a mountain  hamlet,  twelve  miles 
from  Kucheng,  one  of  the  district  cities  of  the 
Foochow  prefecture.  The  English  Mission  had 
two  houses  at  this  place  for  summer  resort. 
A society  of  the  sect  of  “vegetarians,”  in- 
tensely anti-foreign  and  lawless,  and  in  open 
feud  with  the  local  authorities,  apparently  had 
solemnly  sworn  before  their  idol  gods  to  kill 
the  foreigners.  They  assaulted  and  killed 
nine  adults  connected  with  the  English  Church 
Mission.  This  sad  event  will  always  be  a 
marked  one  in  our  missionary  calendar.  Even 
now  we  see  that  it  has  helped  to  spread  Chris- 
tian truth  in  this  dark  land.  The  Lord  reigns, 
and  he  well  knows  how  to  bring  good  out  of 
the  evil. 

At  the  beginning  of  1905  the  mission  had 
five  stations  with  96  outstations.  There  were  37 
American  missionaries,  — 12  men,  9 wives,  and 
ib'unmarried  women;  of  these  seven  are  phy- 
sicians. There  are  82  churches,  12  of  them 


23 


entirely  self-supporting.  The  native  laborers 
connected  with  the  mission  number  292,  of 
whom  87  are  pastors  or  preachers,  and  there 
are  156  places  for  regular  oreaching. 


SEND  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO 


Frank  H.  Wiggin, 

14  Beacon  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

SEND  FOR  LEAFLETS  TO 

John  G.  Hosmer, 

14  Beacon  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Or  to  District  Secretaries : 

Rev.  C.  C.  Creegan,  D.D., 

4th  Ave.  and  22d  St , New  York  City. 

Rev.  A.  N.  Hitchcock,  Ph.D., 

153  La  Salle  St.,  Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  H.  Melville  Tenney, 

y.  M.  C.  a.  Bldg.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


